Thanks For the Rain Lord, But We Didn’t Need the Tornadoes

A powerful and fast-moving storm spread badly needed rain across east Texas and Angelina County last night, but it also brought strong winds and tornadoes.

The storm moved across Angelina County west to east between 10 PM and midnight.  On the leading edge, there was at least one confirmed sighting of a twister in the Hudson area just west of town.

A Hudson resident says she saw the twister over the campus of the Hudson school district.  She described it as a long and skinny funnel cloud.

A power transformer on the Hudson campus exploded when it was hit by lightning, causing a nearby tree to catch fire.  Another tree, on the north side of Highway 94, snapped in two and fell onto the highway. Witnesses said a car ran into it but the motorist was able to drive away.

City and County emergency management officials are surveying  the storm damage today.  Trees and tree limbs were torn down, and there were power outages and flooded streets, but no serious injuries have been reported.

via Angelina County gets the rain it's been seeking, but it comes with tornadic activity - The Lufkin Daily News: Local & State.

The county's  official rainfall total measured at the Angelina County Airport was only about half an inch.  Some areas got more rain than others, but it was a small blessing for an area that's under a burn ban because of the state’s prolonged and unrelenting drought.